Down to the Wire on Redistricting
NY Times Editorial By ELEANOR RANDOLPH
It is crunch time for New York lawmakers, who are required to draw new maps for Congressional and legislative districts in time for the 2012 elections. The Congressional primaries are supposed to take place June 26, and as usual, the mapmakers are extremely late. It’s possible that they will release the Congressional maps, which have been drawn up in secret, this week since the Legislature is hoping to approve the new district lines by March 1.
The inexcusable delay has prompted the federal courts to get into the act. A three-judge panel is expected to decide — maybe this week — whether a special master should take over the whole redistricting fiasco. That could be the best hope the public has for fairer election districts.
Albany legislators in charge of redistricting first created their own districts — outrageously contorted maps designed to keep Republicans in power in the Senate and Democrats in the Assembly. They have not unveiled maps for 27 Congressional districts — down from 29 districts because New York has not added enough people compared with other states. When those maps come out there will be no public hearings.
If these politically skewed districts are approved by the Legislature as expected, Gov. Andrew Cuomo should veto them. That would give a court-appointed special master a better chance to create independent maps that might actually allow for competition in political races.
